“The Pacific Ocean was going off the map. There was nowhere to put it. It was so big, messy and blue that it didn’t fit anywhere. That’s why they left it in front of my window” – Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was passionate about the sea. So much so that he placed it in front of a window and built his favorite house around it. A land-based navigator, as he claimed to be, he adopted Isla Negra as his port, refuge for writing and as the home he shared with Matilde Urrutia, his third wife and great love of his life.
Contrary to what the name seems to suggest, Isla Negra is not an island, but a coastal region in the commune of El Quisco, which is 45 km from Valparaíso and 110 km from Santiago. Before the poet’s arrival, the place was called La Gaivota, but it was renamed by him because of the color of the stones and because it was the place where he took refuge to write.
Built on cliffs from a stone hut Neruda bought from a Spanish sailor, the house grew to accommodate his hobbies and collections. The poet’s first customization was the construction of a roofless tower, which was later modified again to resemble the towers in the city of Temuco, where he spent his childhood.
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The house also had a bar so Neruda could receive his friends at endless parties and afternoons of conversations in which he was the waiter and barista. On the wooden beams that support the bar he engraved the names of dead friends, as a way of celebrating this friendship. He was an accumulator of strange and rare objects obtained throughout his life from travels around the world and, sometimes, from his friends who knew of his predilection for unusual things. Many of them show Neruda’s fascination with the ocean. There are nautical pieces, shells, starfish and miniature boats inside bottles. These pieces are combined with masks, books, pipes and pieces of clothing.
One of the writer’s most beloved items was the “happiest horse in the world”, a sculpture that was used as decoration in a store that Neruda passed by every day on his way to school. Years later, he found the horse at a fair and didn’t think twice before buying it. This reference to childhood is also constant in Isla Negra: parts of the house have a tin roof so that he could hear the raindrops, as happened in the humid lands of southern Chile, where he was born.
Neruda died in 1973, falling seriously ill the day after Pinochet’s coup d’état, perhaps out of grief. Today, his remains are buried in the house in Isla Negra, according to his last wishes.
“Comrades, bury me on Isla Negra, / in front of the sea that I know, to each rough area of stones / and waves that my lost eyes / will never see again…”
How to get to Neruda’s house from Isla Negra and information for the visit
The house is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 6pm (from March to December) and until 7pm in January and February. Entrance costs 7,000 pesos (R$36). Students pay 2,500 pesos (R$13). Official site.
Entry includes audio guides available in several languages, including Portuguese. Visits do not require prior reservation and tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to a limit of visitors per day. Photography inside the house is not permitted. Isla Negra can be visited both as a day trip from Santiago and combined with a visit to Valparaíso.
Leaving Santiago: Buses on the Costa Central line leave from the Santiago Sur Bus Terminal and stop in El Quisco. There are also buses at Terminal Alameda that take you to Isla Negra.
Leaving Valparaiso: You need to take the Pullmantur bus that leaves from the Valparaíso terminal. There is a stop very close to the Isla Negra house. In front of the drop-off point there is a company counter where you can buy a return ticket or find out about bus timetables.
Important Tip: Don’t make the mistake of traveling to Chile without travel insurance. Understand the reason and find out how to get discounted insurance.
